“Best Driver 2025” finalist Aaro Lode’s former driver subjected him to human testing

Aaro Lode, a finalist in the Best Chef competition, who has grown from a chef to a top manager, was such a role model while working as a chef that the head chef ran human trials on him to test the limits. They were happy with each other, but Lode has had his fair share of bad and instructive leaders.

Aaro Lode, head of Baltic Resturants Estonia and finalist of the competition organised by the Pärnu Management Conference, the Estonian Personnel Management Association (PARE), the Estonian Employers’ Confederation and Äripäev, shared his management experience and lessons learned on Äripäev radio. “Manager’s Tales”.

Here are some worthwhile reflections from the conversation.

– Becoming a chef came naturally to me. I have to joke that I realised there were people who cooked significantly better than me. So let them cook and I’ll manage them.

– I came to management naturally. There are few leaders who can say they have set themselves the goal of becoming a leader. You can find a kitchen where you work on your own, but in general it’s a team job and you have to be able to involve other team members, work with them. In addition, you’ll be working under time pressure in the kitchen, where you’ll need to be able to react to any situation and come up with solutions. You never know whether you are going to have 10, 100 or 200 people for dinner. And what do you do when the food runs out?

– When I came back to Estonia from England, in my last interview, my manager, the chef there, confessed to me “I’ll tell you the truth, I was doing human experiments on you all the time”. I wanted to see where the tolerance limit was. If you could do these things, others must be able to do them too”.

– It didn’t reach my limit. Apparently it’s part of the Estonian work culture – we do our things well, without a lot of complaining. When I went to England, I was an unknown quantity to them and I worked my way up in the kitchen and the chef saw my leadership skills. I was very happy with him and obviously he was happy with me.

– Therefore, becoming a chef was a natural progression. I have to joke that I realised that there are people who know how to cook much better than I do. So let them cook and I’ll guide them.

– Working as a chef means you come into contact with a wide range of people, including not the best managers. It makes you think things could be done differently and when those opportunities arise, you say “why not”. Today I run a catering company and my kitchen background comes in very handy. I know how the business processes work, how the sub-units work.

– Head chefs have a tremendous capacity for work and creativity. You have to think up something new all the time and be better than the rest. It’s the same in business – that’s our competitive advantage. The constant search for it and the creativity behind it comes from the kitchen.

– I have had good leaders and bad leaders. So I know what I would definitely not do as a leader. For example, taking an egotistical approach to things and giving less consideration to other world views. I’ve learnt that it’s possible to get things done when you’re on your own, but it’s a lot easier to get things done together. The second lesson is faith – if you believe you are doing the right thing, eventually your value will show and things will happen.

– It is difficult to define a good leader definitively, because every organisation has a different kind of good leader. Personally, I would like my leader to be honest and straightforward, to have the courage to say things. A good leader recognises the team.

Aaro Lode’s question for Estonian managers: how important do managers consider a balanced diet to maintain good energy at work?

The best manager will be announced on 16 May at the Pärnu Management Conference.